Certain nutrients have been identified as important for fertility in both mare and stallion, most of which are provided by the recommended amount of an appropriate stud feed alongside forage. Occasionally horses may benefit from the targeted nutritional support which can be provided by a specially formulated supplement.

Since the foetus is developing from conception onwards, we recommend that you provide correct nutrition from this date onwards rather than waiting until the last trimester of pregnancy. For good-doers you can achieve this with low calorie, high nutrient Stud Balancer or, for those who need more calories, Stud Mix or Cubes are ideal.

Recommended amounts can be found on our product pages, whilst further information on feeding the pregnant mare can be found in the Stud Area of this web site.

It’s important that a foal receives colostrum during its first hours of life. Thereafter, Baileys Mare’s Milk Replacer can be fed from a bucket from day one and contains all the nutrients a foal needs for correct growth.

If your mare is in good condition and receiving the recommended amount of a stud feed, it may simply be that your mare does not naturally produce a lot of milk. Should your suckling foal starts to lose weight, it could be a sign that the dam is not producing enough milk or that her milk is of poor quality and not providing enough calories. This is likely to interrupt the foal’s growth rate, which should ideally be nice and even in order to avoid any growth-related problems. Ideally the foal should be supplemented with milk-based Foal Creep Pelletsalthough, in extreme cases, early weaning may be advocated by your vet.

There’s lots of advice on feeding foals and weanlings in our article but, if you are still unsure, please do contact our Nutrition team via our Ask the Experts form.

Ideally a foal should grow at a steady rate as it is rapid increases or decreases in the growth rate which may cause problems. Weightaping the foal regularly and plotting the bodyweight on a chart will help identify any changes to a foal’s rate of growth so that the diet can be altered accordingly.

It is now widely accepted that protein is not a cause of growth problems – indeed it is an essential component of the diet to enable the youngster to build health bone and body tissue. Growth spurts, caused by high calorie intake from either pasture, forage, mother’s milk or hard feed, are more likely to lead to problems when, at the same time, the diet does not supply sufficient vitamins and minerals to support the youngster’s growth.

The aim should be to establish the foal on its weanling diet before separation from the dam occurs. This will help avoid weight loss or disruption to growth which can arise from the inevitable stresses of the weaning process.

More information can be found in the Stud Area and in the following article: